Page 1 Advertisements Column 6

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2224, 23 June 1908, Page 1

ATHLETICS IN AMERICA. AGITATION AGAINST VIOLENT GAMES. T>U'fSSIDENT HO()SEVEL'i.” S OPINION. President Eliot, of Harvard University, has joint'll the agitation aK.iin.4t violent college games. In his latest report lie attacks tlio ar-mour-plated foot bull of the groat colleges. it is the least useful of all names, ho says, because it can be played by very few and never beyond the college period. Football toughness, he declares, is not tho kind of toughness which is most profitable in after life. Its blazonings and crowded triumphs aro ill preparation of the later struggles of professional men, who do their best wor*k iilone, or at most in tlio presence of few critical observers. Professor ICliofc also condemns America!! baseball, basketball, and hockey as' violent sports, 'which should he restricted or interdicted by colleges, and he advises the substitution of English cricket, tenuis and golf. There is a big volume of opinion on tho other side, however, and President Roosevelt himself has referred with some prido to the fact that his son Theodore has liad a leg in plaster of Paris as tho (result of fondness for “manly” games. The (newspapers, it .must ho confessed, make the most of tho Presidents 'athletic inclinations. They report at considerable length an interview between Mr. Roosevelt and Martin Sheridan, the .(champion sliotrputtcr of the United States. Sheridan, who is n. New York policeman, went up to White House to talk over Irish grievances, hut we are told that the President “switched him on to athletics at once.” Mr. Roosevelt looked Sheridan over carefully. He felt the big man’s arm, thumped him on the chest and stood him olf a couple of feet. “You’re all right, Martin,” was the verdict. “You’re all to good yourself, President,” replied Martin. Sheridan told how the amateur athletics of the United States expected to sweep all before them at the Olympic Games in London next July. “I wish you could come over with us. President,” said Sheridan. “I wish I could,” sighed Mr. Roosevelt.; Sheridan was •a'-member of the American team which went to Greece for the last Olympic Games, so that lie is quite a personage in the athletic world. •

MUNICIPAL LIQUOR. THE GOTHENBURG SYSTEM. A VISITOR'S OPINIONS. It is not exactly municipal “pick-me-ups” and corporation cocktails that the thirsty Swede gets in his native land, under the Gothenburg system. The liquoi-j is dispensed to him by private companies, which arc under the control of city councils. So many conflicting statements are made about the merits and demerits of Sweden’s experiment tint New Zealanders may be interested in the opinions of a visitor from Gothenburg, Mr Johan Hansson, a ivriter on social subjects, who was recently interviewed by the Wellington “Post.” Beer, . which enjoys an increasing popularity, while wines and spirits have been stationary in the public esteem for twenty years, is a fluid apart: its sale in Sweden is conducted by private persons, under control; the sellers are licensed in much the same way as publicans in New Zealand. But the wine and spirit business is managed bv privato companies, responsible to municipalities. These companies get only a limited share —about G per cent—of the pro fit; the surplus is divided among city councils, and the State.

The original idea was that the surplus should be, used to foster a spirit of temperance, by the establish meet of restaurants and places of entertainment where poor people would be able to pass an hour or two pleasantly ; the proposal was to provide coun-ter-attractions to take the place oi lnr delights. Tint this ideal was defeated by the privileged classes, who elected the majority of the members of municipal councils. In'the land where one man was able to exercise anything from’one rote to five thousand, according to the length of his st dec in the country, it was'ndt“possible just yet to get very democratic councils. The plutocratic members saw iu the wine and spirit traffic an opportunity to lessen the general taxes on themselves and their supporters; consequently, tile nrofit from the liquor purpose was used to "save the rates’’ for the rich; the revenue from the liquor trade became the foundation of •municipal finance, said Mr Hansson. "In that way,” lie continued, “the Gothcnberg system lias been, to some extent,.a corrupting influence in municipal life, and the Companies are not so disinterested as they are supposed to be. tßy various devices they strive to increase their share of the profits, and exert themselves, hy lavish buildings, and other expedients, to make liquor appeal to the populace.”

“There is much criticism by temperance advocates against the Gothenburg system,” concluded 5! r Hansson, “hut it is admitted that if the original idea was carried out. »"’•! beer was brought under the system, some good could he done, dint temperance workers do not pay much attention to that matter. All their efforts are used for furthering local option and national prohibition.. Already those two principles are favoured by a majority in the Lower House of Parliament, hut the Tapper House, a very plutocratic body, is opposed to them.”

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